Staunton State Park is Colorado’s newest state park, and is the legacy of the Staunton family. The original Staunton Ranch was homestead around the turn of the 20th century by Drs. Rachel and Archibald Staunton. Over the years, the 160-acre property grew into 1,720 acres containing much of the pristine wilderness and meadows we enjoy today. Francis H. Staunton, daughter of Archibald and Rachel, preserved and protected the Staunton Ranch throughout her life and gifted the land to the State of Colorado in 1986 with the requirement that the land be, “preserved in perpetuity, for public benefit, as a natural wilderness-type park… typifying Colorado’s most beautiful mountain forest and meadow region.” With subsequent acquisitions of parcels, the park grew to 3,828 acres and opened to the public in May of 2013.
In 2012, the year before the park opened, the Park Manager reached out to a small group of local climbers to help with climbing management and the development of climbing at Staunton. Over the course of 10 months, this group of climbers formulated the park’s Fixed Hardware Review Group (FHRG), climbed and documented over 60 new routes, designed the network of trails around Staunton Rocks, and with the help of volunteers built the climbing access trails. While the members of the FHRG have changed over the years, their relationship with the park has remained solid and their continued work has lead to the development of 190 routes at Staunton.
As the number of routes has grown at Staunton, so has the diversity of the climbing. Throughout the park, you will find everything from long single/multi-pitch slabs to patina covered vertical faces to steep, power-endurance test pieces. There is something for everyone to enjoy at Staunton, and even more to explore!
